While seasonal revivals and regular favourites are a fixture of every ballet and dance company’s repertoire, when seasons are announced it’s the new works that can often spark the most interest. In particular, it’s the new full-length works that create the biggest stir. In this preview we take a look at several that have piqued our interest. While trying to predict the likely success of any new production is naturally a difficult task, high expectations are often influenced by the creative team’s track record.
In October, Birmingham Royal Ballet will premiere Luna at the Birmingham Hippodrome, the third in Carlos Acosta’s trilogy of ballets inspired by the city of Birmingham and its inhabitants. (The two previous productions were City of a Thousand Trades and Black Sabbath – The Ballet). With an all-female creative team including composer Kate Whitley, five international choreographers have been tasked with creating a piece inspired by the pioneering women of Birmingham. Based on Louise Palfreyman’s book Once Upon a Time in Birmingham: Women Who Dare to Dream, Iratxa Ansa, Wubkje Kuindersma, Seeta Patel, Arielle Smith and Thaís Suárez will bring contrasting styles to the work.
Helen Pickett also presents a new narrative ballet in October this year. Previous works include The Crucible, based on Arthur Miller’s play about the Salem witch trials, created for Scottish Ballet in 2019, winning acclaim across the board. Last year she created Emma Bovary for National Ballet of Canada with similar success. In October, American Ballet Theatre will premiere her Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), about Raskolnikov, the poverty stricken student who is loving and loyal but equally murderous. With a commissioned score by Isobel Waller-Bridge, sets and costumes by Soutra Gilmour, direction by James Bonas (who collaborated with Pickett on The Crucible), it promises to satiate all the senses. Notably, the lead role will be danced alternately by men and women.
Cathy Marston is no stranger to narrative ballets. Her multiple achievements in storytelling through dance include Jane Eyre (Northern Ballet, 2016), The Suit (Ballet Black, 2018), Victoria about the life of Queen Victoria (Northern Ballet, 2019), The Cellist, about Jacqueline du Pré (The Royal Ballet, 2020 and staged for Ballett Zürich, 2023) and Atonement based on Ian McEwan’s novel (Ballett Zürich, 2024). Now she tackles the life of the composer, Clara Schumann, in Clara which premieres in Zürich early in October. Focusing on her relationships as well as motherhood, Marston uses music composed by both Clara and Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and long time collaborator Philip Feeney, who will work his usual magic, weaving his own composition into the other works seamlessly. Ragna Schirmer, a specialist in the work of Clara Schumann, will perform live on the piano.
The Australian Ballet have already done Christopher Wheeldon’s ubiquitous and popular Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His legacy of ballets, both abstract and narrative, have paved the way for him to create an entirely new work based on the life of Oscar Wilde. As with many of Wheeldon’s big ballets, Joby Talbot has composed the music and Jean-Marc Puissant has designed sets and costumes. Oscar premieres in October in Melbourne and in Sydney in November. Wheeldon’s previous successes, staged by many companies worldwide include The Winter’s Tale, Like Water for Chocolate and Cinderella.
In February 2025, Staatsballett Berlin will premiere a full-length production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Romanian-born choreographer Edward Clug. Currently artistic director of the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor, where he was once a principal dancer, Clug is also a much sought-after choreographer. In particular, his version of Romeo and Juliet, reinvented as Radio and Juliet to music by Radiohead, has been performed all over the world. His new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is set to a commissioned score by long-time collaborator Milko Lazar. As with his previous works, this one will have a contemporary feel, not set in any particular time period. Audiences can expect something fresh and original.
This year, English National Ballet finally has a new Nutcracker. Wayne Eagling’s production lasted 13 years in a company that has been dancing the ballet in various iterations, every year since 1950. This latest version, a collaboration between artistic director Aaron S. Watkin and Olivier Award winner Arielle Smith, promises to be very traditional. They’re sticking with the Edwardian setting, the battle with the Rat King, the ice realm with its queen, the Land of Sweets and Delights as well as Tchaikovsky’s wonderful score. The internationally acclaimed designer, Dick Bird, is tasked with designing the sets and costumes. Owing to the number of performances, audiences are likely to enjoy multiple casts from the start, with the world premiere at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton in November, transferring to the London Coliseum in December and January. What an apt way to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary.
Choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti and regular collaborator, lighting and set designer Carlo Cerri will come together to create a new full-length version of Scheherazade for Czech National Ballet in Prague at the end of November. Set to Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous score, the original ballet was created for the Ballets Russes in 1910 by Michel Fokine. The ballet was still being performed in the 1980s by various companies, staged by Nicholas Beriosoff, but in recent years it has become infrequent outside of Russia. Bigonzetti, who is internationally recognised as a great dance innovator, will no doubt bring his highly individual choreographic voice to the work, revitalising it along the way. It’s not the first time he has achieved success in Prague: Vertigo (2016), Kafka: The Trial (2019) and Holo Harmonies (2023) have all impressed audiences and critics alike. Audiences should expect a visual spectacle from his latest creation.
Rock band The Who had a hit album in 1973 with guitarist Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia. It was made into a film in 1979 which launched the acting careers of a number of young actors, most notably Phil Daniels as the main protagonist, Jimmy. Townshend’s wife, Rachel Fuller and Martin Batchelar orchestrated the album in 2015 and it was recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Fast forward to 2025 and Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will have its world premiere at Plymouth Theatre Royal at the end of May, followed by a UK tour and a season at Sadler’s Wells in June and July. The role of Jimmy will be danced by the beguiling Paris Fitzpatrick, who won a National Dance Award earlier this year for his role as Romeo in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet. Choreography is by Paul Roberts and Rob Ashford directs, while the famous designer Paul Smith and Natalie Pryce are responsible for the costumes.
Finally, two full-length ballets which are not strictly world premieres but UK and Australian premieres, look set to be audience pleasers. Wayne McGregor’s MaddAddam is a co-production between the National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet. It premiered last year in Canada and now comes to the Royal Opera House in London in November. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s trilogy Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam, there are themes of extinction, love and loss and dystopian worlds. It has brought together the same creative team that McGregor worked with in his 2015 Woolf Works, including music by Max Richter, set designs by We Not I, costumes by Gareth Pugh and film design by Ravi Deepres.
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, whose works are currently being staged with all the major companies around the world, first created Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon for Hong Kong Ballet last year. It’s a co-production between HKB, Atlanta Ballet and Queensland Ballet and the latter is about to premiere it at QPAC, Brisbane in October. The ballet has an original score by Peter Salem and sets and costumes by award-winning designer Jérôme Kaplan – but it is Lopez Ochoa’s gritty realism (think Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire or English National Ballet’s Broken Wings) that will surely captivate Australian audiences.
